Remember the OX? Of course you do. It’s the slab-sided, flat-pack truck from the designer of five World Championship-winning F1 cars (and the McLaren F1) that might just save the world.

You can read all about it by clicking on these blue words. But in short, the OX is the brainchild of philanthropist Sir Torquil Norman, who spent £3m of his own money getting the vehicle designed, prototyped and much of the way to production. For design and development he engaged none other than Gordon Murray, whose aim was to come up with an “ultra-simple, ultra-cheap, ultra-robust and ultra-repairable” truck that could bring supplies and mobility to the developing world.

It can carry 13 people or up to 1,900kg, and will be built in Britain but flat-packed (six to a shipping-container) and assembled locally – wherever that might be. Its engine is the diesel from a Ford Transit.

And thanks to Shell, the project has moved another step closer to reality. Its funding will help send a bespoke, pre-production OX to India, where an outreach programme will be set up to, in the words of Sir Norman, “demonstrate its capability in a key market, which will help attract long-term production partners”. Excellent news, no?

Author: TopGear

Top Gear is a British television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars, and is the most widely watched factual television programme in the world.